A user can interact with a user device, such as a mobile phone, tablet, laptop or PC in different ways. For example, a user may input data to the user device using input means such as a keypad, microphone, camera, motion sensor and/or touch screen, and data may be output to the user using output means such as a display (which may or may not be a touch screen via which the user can input data), speakers and/or vibration means. The use of touch screens in user devices is increasingly popular. The use of a touch screen, rather than a physical keypad to provide a means by which the user can input text to the device allows the screen to cover a greater area of the device, rather than having some of the device dedicated to the physical keypad. This is particularly useful if the user device is a mobile device such as a mobile phone or tablet, where it is particularly beneficial to keep the total size and weight of the device low whilst it is also beneficial to provide a large screen for outputting good quality visual data such as images and videos.
In order to input text via a touch screen, a user indicates that he would like to enter text, e.g. by selecting a text box displayed on the display, and in response a keypad is displayed on a portion of the display. The displayed keypad may for example include a plurality of keys for a respective plurality of letters and/or numbers which the user may wish to input. The user can then type text into the user device by touching the appropriate keys displayed on the touch screen. Often the keys displayed on the touch screen are small, for example if the user device is a mobile phone or tablet and if the displayed keypad includes a key for each of the letters of the English alphabet then each displayed key is small (typically having an area less than 1 cm2 on the screen).
The text that the user inputs to the user device by typing on the keypad displayed on the touch screen may be used for various purposes at the user device. For example, the text input may be used for a search implemented at the user device. For example, the text may be used to search for a contact stored in a contact list at the user device, that the user would like to call. The text that has been input may be used for other searches implemented at the user device.